You Promised
by prettylittledemigods
Summary: He isn't moving. He isn't breathing. Piper feels as if she herself has stopped breathing as well. An oppressing feeling of dread crushes her chest, her entire body feels paralyzed, numb. He's dead. Jason is dead. In which Jason dies during the final battle and Piper feels herself breaking. Warning: mentions of death and blood.


**Hello! One-shot set in the final battle against Gaea.**

 **Warning: Character death.**

Piper doesn't remember falling down, but suddenly she's on the ground, her fingernails digging into the dirt. She barely registers someone hugging her close to them protectively but she doesn't care to check who it is, her eyes are locked on the lifeless body in front of her.

His light blue t-shirt is soaked red with blood. Smudges of dirt and blood cover his face and his blond hair.

He isn't moving. He isn't breathing.

Piper feels as if she herself has stopped breathing as well. An oppressing feeling of dread crushes her chest, her entire body feels paralyzed, numb.

He's dead.

 _Jason is dead._

She feels arms tightening their grip on her. That simple touch is enough to bring her back to reality, if only just slightly.

She hears screaming, all around her, close to her. It takes her a second to realize that she is the one screaming.

Her voice is raw with pain, the screams ripping from her throat desperately, filled with anguish and pain and _grief._

And she doesn't stop them. She doesn't stop the tears falling down her face either, salty drops mixing with the dirt on her face, making her open cuts sting.

She's gripping someone's arms tightly, curled up on their embrace. From the corner of her eye she can see locks of dirty, blonde curls and she knows Annabeth's the one hugging her.

Someone else drops down next to them. Hands covered in motor oil grab hers, and she holds on tightly, afraid of crumbling if either Annabeth or Leo let go of her.

 _He's dead, he's dead, he's dead,_ her mind repeats on a loop. _He's dead because of you._

Khione had come out of nowhere, a dagger made of sharp ice in her hand. The goddess was about to take revenge against the daughter of Aphrodite, as she had promised. This time she didn't fail.

Because she wasn't aiming at Piper. She was aiming at Jason.

Before anyone could react, the snow goddess had stabbed Jason in the chest, burying the icy dagger deep and slow, and then yanking it out fast and merciless.

Piper had turned around in time to see Khione with a wide smile on her face, her eyes glinting with satisfaction before she disappeared in a blizzard of snow.

Barely a second later, Jason, paralyzed on the spot, gasped once… twice… fell to his knees… sprawled on the ground, his mouth gaping open with shock.

His eyes were already glazed over when his head hit the ground.

Jason is dead because Khione wanted revenge on Piper. He's dead because Piper wasn't fast enough to run her sword through Khione in time.

Piper sees his broken body in front of her and her screams become more insistent. She starts disentangling herself from Annabeth, she lets go of Leo's hands and struggles to get up, to get to him, reach for him, cradle him in her arms. _Get him back._

"Piper, wait," Annabeth says weakly, her voice trembling. But Annabeth doesn't stop her, doesn't even attempt to restrain her.

Piper runs forward, stumbling on the wet ground under her feet. Her tears are blurring her vision, her entire body is burning with the anxious feeling of reaching Jason, to touch him and feel him under her fingertips, even though is pointless. She knows she won't feel a pulse when she grips his wrists, won't feel his chest rising and falling with even a slight breath.

Because he's gone. Gone because of her.

Piper stumbles down next to him, pain shooting through her arms as her hands take the impact of the fall.

For a few seconds she just stares at him, tears still blurring her vision, her sobs quieted down to sniffles. With a shaky hand she reaches up and closes his eyes with her fingertips. She traces his face, trying to take in his features, making her fingers remember them. But it doesn't feel the same, his skin is ice cold, so pale and _lifeless_ …

With the force of freight train the pain and shock hit her again and she slumps down, defeated burying her head on his shoulder, sobs trembling her body violently.

"You can't leave me!" She cries out suddenly, "Please… you said no one would die… you said… you promised-"

Her voice breaks and she tries to get the words out, useless begging for him to come back but she can't. Her breaths become shallow, before she knows it she's hyperventilating, unable to control the desperate sobs anymore.

A strong pair of hands gently pull her away from Jason, whispering her name and comforting words. They tell her to let go, that it's okay.

But she doesn't want to let go. She wants Jason. She wants to feel his arms around her, hear his laugh and relax in his calm and comforting presence. She wants him _alive_ , she wants to be with him.

She frantically kicks the person pulling her away, she struggles to get out of their arms. She screams, cries, begs for them to let her go.

She's pretty sure more than one person is restraining her now. Vaguely, she recognizes Frank's voice and immediately knows he's the one who pulled her away in the first place. Percy's hands hold her arms tightly, clearly in an attempt to stop her from punching them in the face.

They drag her away from Jason as a couple of campers raise him on a stretcher and pull a sheet over his body.

Piper's legs give out from under her, and she doesn't have the strength to pull herself up anymore. So she leans back heavily on her friends, taking deep breaths as if she couldn't get enough oxygen.

She's being lowered to the ground, the faces around her become a blur, the voices mix together and they're making her dizzy.

Piper doesn't remember passing out. She only realizes she has when she wakes up, hours later, in the infirmary.


End file.
